Web Services Managementhttps://webservicesmanagement.com
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1 116077402Email is Brokenhttps://webservicesmanagement.com/email-is-broken/
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 21:27:45 +0000https://webservicesmanagement.com/?p=3237Let’s face it – Email is Broken. The tool that has taken up more bandwidth and hard drive space than ALL THE OTHER WEB SERVICES COMBINED in the short history of the Internet, is broken.noo To back up a little, I’m a software architect and IT consultant, and most of my clients at some point […]

The tool that has taken up more bandwidth and hard drive space than ALL THE OTHER WEB SERVICES COMBINED in the short history of the Internet, is broken.noo

To back up a little, I’m a software architect and IT consultant, and most of my clients at some point need help with IT security. And obviously, IT Security-with-a-Capital-S is a big deal.

So we talk to our clients about the threats from China, Russia, the former Soviet Republics, North Korea, Turkey, Brazil etc. and of course the threats from domestic sources – whether directly or through compromised bots and zombies. We talk about firewalls, antivirus/malware, phishing, spear-phishing, whale-phishing, white-whale-phishing, spamming, hacks, hardening, software updates, encryption, VPNs, training, spoofing, middle man attacks, wifi security, drive by infections, more training, Internet-of-Things, The Dark Web, passwords, biometrics, three letter government agencies, public key encryption, and even more training.

I’ve personally worked in Austin & Silicon Valley, and with people on 6 continents. I’ve built a dozen email servers from scratch. I’ve written spam filters and worked on email clients and implemented dozens of fixes. I’ve integrated with email in a dozen programming languages. We manage thousands of email accounts, and we’ve watched even the most robust and well protected email systems fall to attacks. So really, I almost always come back to the fact that it all starts with Email. When I think of all the Security hoops we have to jump though, and how much time, effort and money we spend (or feel like we should be spending), as a culture, on digital Security, I think how much better our entire Security infrastructure would be if we … JUST. FIXED. EMAIL.

To be fair, Email wasn’t always so bad. The underlying architecture of Email as we know it was developed by Ray Tomlinson in 1971 on ARPANET – the DOD precursor to our modern Internet. By 1976, 75% of all ARPANET traffic was Email. Early email was a command line tool used to send quick messages to other computer users – it was literally user@computer.network. From a practical standpoint, it worked a lot like the text messaging we use on our phones – i.e. all text, quick messages, limited user interface. In fact , RFC 733 (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc733) in 1977 was titled “STANDARD FOR THE FORMAT OF ARPA NETWORK TEXT MESSAGES(1)”. The operative phrase there being “text messages.” i.e. – not “rich text messages” or “multipart internet mail extension messages”.

Also, email was designed from the ground up to be open – meaning anyone could read and edit the source code, and it was open in that email could take any route to get from one user to another. And while it wasn’t feature rich, nor locked down tight, the simplicity of email made it a safe and efficient, time-agnostic, way to communicate. The understanding though, amongst those early users, was that you should always “treat Email like a postcard”. All those early users, mostly scientists, understood the open nature of Email, and knew the limitations that accompanied its open nature.

That lasted the better part of 2 decades – through the early stages of the Internet (aka ARPANET). Eventually, (like mid-80’s), because we’re clever monkeys, some dude said, ‘Hey, I want a user interface.’ So he wrote some code to add a user interface to make life easier. Then some other dude said, “Hey, I’d like attach a file.” So he wrote some code, added it to the protocol, and before long we had attachments with the fancy new UI, which became a GUI, then hyperlinks, HTML, address books, filtering rules, sorting, archiving, and … spoofed email headers?

Woops – we went too far.

All those layers of code made Email easier to use and more powerful. Every layer provided an enhancement to Email – usually to make it more convenient. Companies like AOL, Earthlink, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Netscape and others made a LOT of money from email. Plus the rest of us loved it – we became more productive, made more money ourselves, and discovered the power of Email. So much so that Email became the largest single source of Internet traffic by 2007. And at the time of this writing (early 2018), most modern businesses couldn’t imaging running their businesses without email. When email goes down, we freak out!

But there weren’t any adults in the room. No one told us where to stop, and no one should have. We needed to make a big, wild, powerful tool to break our paper addiction and move us into a digital paradigm. We needed a freeform communications tool that lets anyone contact anyone, both in real time and with a time lag. As a result, Email has become key to almost everything we do on the Internet. Every other account we have on the Internet – Facebook, Dropbox, Zillow, IFTTT, Banking, Insurance, FedBizOpps etc. etc. – requires an email address just to sign up for the account. You can’t even get broadband or a mobile phone without an email address, and why would you want to?

However, we’ve reached the point where we need to roll it back. We’ve pushed Email way beyond the limits of what it can safely do. Email was never meant to be a secure form of communication – it’s insecurity is inherent in the underlying protocols. And we can’t keep adding more security layers to Email without destroying the very thing that makes Email work – which is its ‘open-ness’. Almost every other private messaging system in our modern society is more secure, primarily because those other messaging tools – Facebook Messenger, Skype, Google Chat, Snapchat, Twitter etc. are all closed systems.No one can force a Tweet onto my Twitter feed or spoof another user’s Twitter address. Compare that to Email, where anyone in the world can force their email (and a name associated with it!) into my Inbox. And, of course, I can do the same to them. I could send a message to trump@whitehouse.gov or v.putin@kremlin.ru, and claim I’m Theresa May, and probably get the message into someone’s inbox at the White House or the Kremlin. However, I don’t stand a chance of being able to send either of those people a text message on their phones and actually have it look like it’s coming from Theresa May.

Moreover, I want to address the scope of this issue. I realize full well that it’s not as shiny as Tax Reform, and doesn’t spark the righteous indignation of Gun Control, but in terms of the number of world citizens that this issue affects all day every day, this problem is MASSIVE!

So what are the real solutions?

Well, I’m a fan of a) finding simple solutions and b) pulling on the biggest levers. And when you’re talking big tech, it’s the big companies. So I’m making an open call to Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Mozilla & AOL. Those 6 companies have control over the servers or clients of more than 80% of the world’s email. If we think of this in true epidemiological fashion, and essentially immunize the worst vectors, we get an exponential decrease in overall infections.

So here’s my open letter to the C-suites and Email Architects of those 6 companies:

————–

Dear Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Mozilla Foundation and AOL,

We, the Citizens of the Digital World, need your help.

Please make the following changes to your email software, both client and server:

1) Create a “Secure” mode for both your email clients and your email servers that does the following:

Disables the display of a sender’s NAME in lieu of an email address. Any name association should ONLY be done through the recipient’s address book. I.e. All sender email addresses should come through ‘in the clear’ – none of this angled-bracket nonsense. ( i.e. Drop 3.4 but keep 3.4.1 in RFC2822 – https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822 )

Displays the sender’s real email address in large, bold type at the top of every message, (see attached images)

2) Enable this “Secure” mode by default for Business & Enterprise Users

3) Create a “Super Safe” mode that also disallows attachments.

You can each do this individually, or in cooperation with each other. We don’t care.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation,

The Citizens of the Digital World

——————————————-

Each of these above corporations can make these changes unilaterally to their own toolsets – no cooperation is required. No legislation. No IETF working groups. No nothing. Just do it. Moreover, the new Secure mode will actually be a money-making feature they can sell to their clients.

Additionally, (and this is my favorite part), we’re not adding new layers to try to fix a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Instead, we’re removing layers that, really, never should have existed. The only GUI enhancement is item 1-g, adding the sender’s original email address to the top of the message in big, fat, bold type. Make it unmistakable, just like a sender’s phone number is on our text messages. That’ll require a little work, but even most amateurs could code it up in a few hours.

Of course, if we want to take it even further and immunize the next group of easily identifiable transmission vectors, we need to get the List Managers involved. Here’s an additional open letter to the email newsletter providers of the world like MailChimp, Constant Contact, Mandrill, List-Manage, Sendy, Amazon SES etc.

————————————

Dear List Managers,

We, the Citizens of the Digital World, need your help.

Please help us make email more secure by taking the following steps:

1) No spoofing – make all users authenticate through THEIR email servers when sending messages to email lists. Alternately, send the message from your own server. I don’t care if a message comes from an @mailchimp.com etc. email address. As long as the message itself says it’s coming from person X or Y or Z, and I’ve signed up for the list, then I’m fine with it.

2) Implement an option for senders to be compatible with the above recommendations for email client and server providers. Give your users an option to use ascii text and no colors or HTML in their messages. Yes, some users can’t imagine sending newsletters and promo codes out without 12 images and 9 colors. But 99% of that JUNK goes into the Trash folder anyway. What users (not recipients) REALLY love about your service is the list management. So let your users have a choice to focus on that. Let their message be about the content rather than the design.

About the Author: Nathan Morris is a software architect, inventor and IT Consultant in Durango, CO. Nathan has worked in the Austin, Silicon Valley and Global tech industries, and has degrees in Philosophy, Geography and Mathematics. Nathan is currently a partner in a Durango based software developement house – Web Services Management, which is the parent company of DurangoDowntown.com. Additionally, Mr. Morris is the principal founder of the CircuitMouse IoT app & framework.

]]>3237VisualIDX Featured Listingshttps://webservicesmanagement.com/visualidx-featured-listings/
Mon, 05 Feb 2018 17:59:35 +0000https://webservicesmanagement.com/?p=3172The VisualIDX Featured Listing widget is one of our most versatile tools. Very few sites use it the same way. We see a lot of Featured Listing widgets on home pages, either as full width sliders, or as block elements below the fold. Additionally, we see the Featured Listing widget in many sidebars. Most of […]

]]>The VisualIDX Featured Listing widget is one of our most versatile tools. Very few sites use it the same way.

We see a lot of Featured Listing widgets on home pages, either as full width sliders, or as block elements below the fold. Additionally, we see the Featured Listing widget in many sidebars. Most of these implementations take advantage of the ability to fully customize the in-line HTML for the widget.

For those wanting a high quality, fast and easy to implement Featured Listing in their WordPress sidebar, they can use the default HTML and styling, either via a few easy-to-implement lines of Javascript, or the Featured Listing shortcode by using our VisualIDX WordPress Plugin.

The Featured Listing widget is also a perfect tool for Real Estate Advertising. The Featured Listing widget is just a few lines of lightweight javascript an HTML, so can be used in Ad systems like Google Adwords (note* – WSM is an Authorized Google AdWords partner) or Adbutler. A good example of the Featured Listing widget for Real Estate Advertising is in the Real Estate Section of DurangoDowntown.com where it used to promote Real Estate Advertising Durango.

One download, one upload, and a few settings. Then you, your webmaster or WSM can have the full power of our VisualIDX toolset capturing clients and turning traffic into leads for you and your owners.

Our plugin creates shortcodes for all our most powerful tools. And while we feel our JavaScript tools are about as easy as it gets, the shortcodes for WordPress make it even easier!

Additionally, our VisualIDX plugin offers the ONLY Zillow API integration for WordPress. You can embed your Zillow reviews right on your website – either in the sidebar, or in the body of a page or post with our WordPress Zillow Plugin.

And if you need other Zillow API integrations with your website, let us know. We’re well versed with the Zillow API and can handle the custom programming for you.

Get the VisualIDX WordPress plugin with Zillow API integrations

]]>2680VisualIDX SEO Flyerhttps://webservicesmanagement.com/visualidx-seo-flyer/
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 21:51:28 +0000https://webservicesmanagement.com/?p=2567You need a powerful web presence for every property, and for every owner. And you don’t want your best properties getting buried in the mix of all the other properties for sale. Our SEO Flyer solves several problems for you. First, our VisualIDX SEO Flyer creates a beautiful Flyer-style display of a single listing. This […]

]]>You need a powerful web presence for every property, and for every owner. And you don’t want your best properties getting buried in the mix of all the other properties for sale.

Our SEO Flyer solves several problems for you. First, our VisualIDX SEO Flyer creates a beautiful Flyer-style display of a single listing. This highly customizable display allows you to custom design a printable flyer for you or your buyers.

Get the VisualIDX SEO Flyer on your site

]]>2567Social Media Managementhttps://webservicesmanagement.com/social-media-management/
Mon, 16 Oct 2017 20:50:30 +0000http://webservicesmanagement.com/?page_id=2446Social Media has become an integrated part of our social and business society today. WSM can help you set up, manage and expand your Social Media presence.

We can work with you and your business to custom tailor a Social Media strategy combining custom, hand crafted posts and automated feeds to fill your Facebook, Facebook Business, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and other Social Network pages.

Social Media has become an integrated part of our social and business society today. WSM can help you set up, manage and expand your Social Media presence.

We can work with you and your business to custom tailor a Social Media strategy combining custom, hand crafted posts and automated feeds to fill your Facebook, Facebook Business, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and other Social Network pages.

How can we help you with Social Media Management?

]]>2446Durango Web Designhttps://webservicesmanagement.com/web-design/
Fri, 13 Oct 2017 02:22:44 +0000http://webservicesmanagement.com/?page_id=2405WSM has decades of experience designing websites or web applications for you. We can design from the ground up, or tweak your existing site using responsive, W3C compliant techniques and technologies. We are a 'mobile-first' and 'seo-always' company, meaning we design responsive websites that look great on the smallest of screens. Our other top priority is generally SEO - there's no point in having a great website if noone can find it. Then we move on to security, performance and (last but not least) design, in that order. We work hard not to let Design be the shiny object that distracts us from a solid website. At the same time, we understand the design and user interface concepts that separate a world class website from 'everything else'.

WSM has decades of experience in web design and building web applications. We can design from the ground up, or tweak your existing site using responsive, W3C compliant techniques and technologies. We are a ‘mobile-first’ and ‘seo-always’ company, meaning we design responsive websites that look great on the smallest of screens. Our other top priority is generally SEO – there’s no point in having a great website if no one can find it. Then we move on to security, performance and (last but not least) design, in that order. We work hard not to let Design be the shiny object that distracts us from a solid website. At the same time, we understand the design and user interface concepts that separate a world class website from ‘everything else’.

We’re based in Durango, Colorado and can meet and discuss how to meet your Durango web design needs. This individual service is great if you need web design in Durango, but we develop sites and apps for anyone with an internet connection!

We prefer the simplest options first, and despite the push towards content management systems, we will still recommend basic HTML/CSS sites for some clients. Given that, we’re extremely well versed in programming for a range of content management systems. We find WordPress is a great fit for most small businesses, but we’re also well versed in other open source CMS’s like Drupal. Additionally, we’re happy to work in SquareSpace or other 3rd party platforms if you prefer. Additionally, if you’re happy with your site, but just need it refreshed for modern technologies and a CMS, we can help.

]]>2405MLS Custom Programminghttps://webservicesmanagement.com/mls-services/
Wed, 04 Oct 2017 23:24:20 +0000http://webservicesmanagement.com/?page_id=2352Do you manage an MLS? If you’re looking for custom reports, custom integrations, or custom data tweaks for your MLS software like Paragon or Rapattoni, we can help. We have a proven track record of being able to handle just about any custom programming task for your MLS, no matter the size. We’ve been working […]

If you’re looking for custom reports, custom integrations, or custom data tweaks for your MLS software like Paragon or Rapattoni, we can help. We have a proven track record of being able to handle just about any custom programming task for your MLS, no matter the size.

We’ve been working with MLS’s for almost 20 years, and we know RETS. We also understand the unique relationship you have with both your Board and your Brokers, and can work with you to keep BOTH those groups happy.

Fill out the form below to let us know what yo have in mind to make your MLS work even better.

]]>2352VisualIDX Social Feedshttps://webservicesmanagement.com/visualidx-social-feeds/
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 18:54:10 +0000http://webservicesmanagement.com/?p=2238 aving an active social media presence is no longer optional if you want to stay competitive! But who wants to spend precious time on multiple social sites manually posting about your current listings? The VisualIDX Social Feed automatically syndicates your listings to Facebook and Twitter about your current and sold listings with lots of […]

Having an active social media presence is no longer optional if you want to stay competitive! But who wants to spend precious time on multiple social sites manually posting about your current listings? The VisualIDX Social Feed automatically syndicates your listings to Facebook and Twitter about your current and sold listings with lots of available customization on where, what, and when you post.

Important for SEO

Search engines no longer just look at your website when deciding how connected you are on the web. Linking your site with established social accounts lets them know that you have a significant web presence. But just setting up an account and linking to it isn’t enough. You need frequent, unique posts that link back to your site and drive social user engagement. Having redundant content on a loop isn’t fooling the social users or search engines. VisualIDX Social Feeds are dynamically generated from your current listings, so they are always fresh and drive user engagement.

Facebook Gallery Display

VisualIDX Social Feeds take advantage of Facebook’s gallery display, which lets us put several images from your listing that the user can browse directly on their Facebook wall. This keeps users more engaged and more likely to click though to the listing on your website, which is right where we want them!

Tweets

Twitter has an active user base and continues to be an important outlet for reaching potential customers. VisualIDX Social Feed automatically syndicates your listings to Twitter, which keeps your feed fresh, helps retain followers, and drive traffic.

Customization

Want to post your newest listings on Tuesdays and Saturdays? Post your most expensive listing daily around lunch time, when everyone is taking a Facebook break? Show off your sold listings as they are sold? The combinations of what listings to post and when are nearly limitless! We’ll work with you to help accomplish your social media goals and post what you want, when you want it.

Sold Listings

Syndicating your sold listings to Facebook and Twitter is an easy way to show potential customers that you mean business. Showing off your sold properties as they are sold sends a strong message that you can move real estate. This builds confidence with potential sellers that you will quickly sell their property too.

Get VisualIDX Social Feed syndication

]]>2238WordPress Rescuehttps://webservicesmanagement.com/wordpress-rescue/
Tue, 09 May 2017 12:27:33 +0000http://webservicesmanagement.com/?p=1927Do you have a stale, broken, orphaned or hacked WordPress site? We can help! It’s easy to get started with WordPress, but not always easy to finish a WordPress site… at least not the way you want. We’ve rescued a LOT of WordPress sites over the years, and whether you need the final 99% or the […]

It’s easy to get started with WordPress, but not always easy to finish a WordPress site… at least not the way you want. We’ve rescued a LOT of WordPress sites over the years, and whether you need the final 99% or the final 1%, we can bring it across the finish line. Whether it’s WordPress design and styling on the front end, or some custom programming for a WordPress theme or custom WordPress plugin on the backend, or even a 3rd party WordPress integration, we’ll work with you to get it done.

If your WordPress Security has been compromised, we have extensive experience in rehabilitating hacked WordPress sites, and we have a proven track record in preventing repeat attacks. We’ll put our deep understanding of hosting, security and open source software to keep your site as safe as it can be in this unsafe online world.

]]>1927WordPress Developmenthttps://webservicesmanagement.com/wordpress-development/
Tue, 09 May 2017 12:19:12 +0000http://webservicesmanagement.com/?p=1925Wordpress now powers more than 26% of the World's websites, and is the most popular CMS by far - with a 59% market share of the CMS market. Over 500 websites a Day are being built with Wordpress! Wordpress is our primary development platform at WSM, and we've developed our Wordpress expertise from the ground up.

WordPress now powers more than 26% of the World’s websites, and is the most popular CMS by far – with a 59% market share of the CMS market. Over 500 websites a Day are being built with WordPress!

WordPress is our primary development platform at WSM, and we’ve developed our WordPress expertise from the ground up. Whether you’re a local restaurateur and need a new Durango WordPress website, or whether you have an existing WordPress website that needs rescuing, we can help.

Our process starts with your content – we make sure your important content is visible and maximized. We then work with you on your SEO and your mobile presence. Next we focus on the design of your website, making sure your website fits your existing branding and attracts new customers. Then we really dial in the client capture features of your website, because if you’re not getting leads, your website isn’t doing its job.

Below is a partial list of WordPress services we provide:

WordPress Design

WordPress Hosting

WordPress Optimization

WordPress SEO

WordPress Security

WordPress Hardening

WordPress Post-disaster recovery

WordPress Rescue

WordPress Migrations

WordPress Custom Plugins

WordPress Custom Theme Development

WordPress Custom functions and shortcodes

However, we want our clients to also understand that WordPress isn’t the only choice. We also support, and frequently work with, other CMSs like SquareSpace and GoDaddy’s Website Builder.

Additionally, while CMSs make many things easier, we still recommend barebones HTML or PHP sites for some clients.